Day 18 - Chico

What a drag. My leg didn't get better over night, in fact it got worse. I managed to break camp using my sticks as support but when I got ready to walk down to where the water is I realized I did't want to put my pack on and walk on such uneven terrain. Every step is made carefully and if I don't step just right I get shooting pain in my hip. 

Ken, the nice guy with the sat phone, texted Pipers Mom to see about getting some assistance but she is too far away from my location. She gave me another number to call of someone named Casey who is near Belden, which is closer to my location, I think. Ken sent a text to him but when he and his two sons left Cold Springs for parts south, he hadn't received a message back. So I am sitting/standing on the road in the hopes that Casey will come by, or any other human being in a vehicle so I can get a ride to a town somewhere. It's clear I can't walk far with a pack on. 

Around 9:30am a truck drove up that turned out to be four wonderful folks from the Forest Service. They apologized that they couldn't give me a ride (liability issues) but tried to call a Ranger to come and get me to transport me to to Chester. The official on the phone said they would only send an ambulance so I declined. The FS driver was wonderful and said if I still needed a ride after work she'd come back up in her own vehicle and bring me to town. Very kind. So it seems as though I won't be stuck up here for ever. 

Amazingly enough by about 10:30 two vehicles drove up and I flagged them down. To make a very long story short the kind folks driving a camper drove me to Chico, where they were going anyway, along their way to Sacramento to visit family. They had been up in the high country fishing and camping for a week. So they dropped me off at yet another Best Western where I got a room for the night. Now all I have to do is get home.